Liberty Head Outdoors In Preparation For Historic Game

[SportsPageMike]

Liberty Head Outdoors In Preparation For Historic Game

By Tracy Jusay: SPM NY Writer: Jul. 19, 2008

NEW YORK - Walking towards the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, one would never think a reason to visit was for a basketball game. But on Saturday, July 19 at 7:30pm -- READ MORE --

http://www.spmsportspage.com/published/spmfeatures/liberty-head-outdoors-in-.shtml

Editors note: This would have been extra special if the Connecticut Sun was their opposing team.

 

[NothinButHoops]

Thanks for the article...if I were any where near NY...I would be at that game, it's always special when teams make history.
No better place than Arthur Ashe stadium.

GO LIBERTY Playground hoops....fun!

 

[StevenHW]

I have always wanted the WNBA to have an outdoor game, though not on a permanent basis. And it would be nice if this idea is expanded to other WNBA teams next season. The one trouble is, it might be so hot in some cities (like Sacramento, Atlanta, and Phoenix), an outdoor game might make sense if it was held in the evenings.

In this particular game, I have one problem: if the WNBA is billing this Fever-Liberty outdoor game as a "historic" game, then why isn't the game being televised NATIONALLY? To my knowledge, it is being shown only on NBA-TV, Fox Sports Net-Indiana, and the MSG (Madison Square Garden) Network, which televises all Liberty games. For some reason, neither ESPN or ABC-TV is showing this game. Sounds like a missed opportunity to me.

 

[monarchgamespictaker]

In this particular game, I have one problem: if the WNBA is billing this Fever-Liberty outdoor game as a "historic" game, then why isn't the game being televised NATIONALLY? To my knowledge, it is being shown only on NBA-TV, Fox Sports Net-Indiana, and the MSG (Madison Square Garden) Network, which televises all Liberty games. For some reason, neither ESPN or ABC-TV is showing this game. Sounds like a missed opportunity to me.

I have to agree with you.

I'm truly disappointed in the League. This game should have been televised! Once again they screwed up a great opportunity to promote this league.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

You know, with all due respect to the Liberty and Fever, this game should have been between Phoenix and LA. Not simply because of the star power, but because of the tempo. I mean, I'm liking the game well enough myself, but I happen to like grind-it-out slugfests. This isn't the type of game to showcase the league to casual fans, in my opinion.

 

[Monty'sBiggestFan]

To go back to the discussion about the television coverage...I believe the contract that the league has with ABC/ESPN designates allotted time slots for broadcasts. Given the funky game times we've seen during the playoffs on weekends, prime time on the East coast is not one of the league's allotted weekend slots. So unless they were going to play this game during the day (with the high heat and humidity) the best they were going to get with this experiment was local TV, NBATV and the Internet streams.

Their new deal with ABC/ESPN starts next year, so if they do it again they might be able to get something more favorable slotted, whether that is a prime time slot on a weekend, I tend to doubt.

 

[6th]

Dang! Did I miss it already?

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

You didn't miss much; the game itself was a letdown. Blowout win for Indiana.

 

[6th]

You didn't miss much; the game itself was a letdown. Blowout win for Indiana.

Well, at least I can be happy about that. I love Catchings. What a player!

 

[StevenHW]

The Indy Fever beat the N.Y. Liberty, 71-55, in the WNBA's first outdoor game.

According to the RebKell message board, those who went to the game at the Arthur Ashe Tennis Stadium, complained about how the weather was muggy, humid, and there were concerns about the players needing to be rehydrated and heat exhaustion. Fortunately, there were no major injuries.

From USA Today, here's their game report:
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/basketball/wnba/2008-07-19-fever-liberty_N.htm

Box score:
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/scores108/108201/WNBA796596.htm

 

[Monty'sBiggestFan]

Those reports are reason one why I'm not sold on the idea.

I went to the outdoor collegiate game in Phoenix between Arizona State and Tennessee, the big concern that night was it was freaking cold that December night and they were worried about keeping the players warm when they weren't in the game - and doubly concerned about having heaters on the benches because it was causing the floor to have water condensation issues so they turned the heaters off and had the players huddle under blankets.

The USA Today story says the NBA will do it for a preseason game down in SoCal. A tennis venue is about the best place I see it working, nothing else seems oriented well enough for a basketball court. Bank One Ballpark was difficult because where they laid the floor and how all the seats in that ballpark are designed to face home plate made sitting and watching something with activity not oriented that way very uncomfortable.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

The USA Today story says the NBA will do it for a preseason game down in SoCal. A tennis venue is about the best place I see it working, nothing else seems oriented well enough for a basketball court. Bank One Ballpark was difficult because where they laid the floor and how all the seats in that ballpark are designed to face home plate made sitting and watching something with activity not oriented that way very uncomfortable.

Yeah, I could definitely see that severely impacting how many different places they could host an outdoor game... unless someone knows of an outdoor skating rink, since hockey's really the only other sport where the arena is conducive to playing/watching basketball.